Interview with author Tracy Deebs and GIVEAWAY

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

We continue the week with another author interview... Today we have author Tracy Deebs! Her debut novel is Tempest Rising, a paranormal young adult novel about a girl who is half mermaid and as her 17th birthday approaches, must decide whether to stay on land or give in to the ocean. Then, she meets handsome and mysterious Kai who complicates her decision. I am currently reading Tempest Rising and really loving the mermaid aspect. If you haven't read the blurb, here it is:

Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend, Mark; and take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give in to the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her—and that the entire ocean's future hangs in the balance.

Wanna read a mermaid romance? Read on for a chance to win an ARC of this novel, but without further ado, here's Tracy...

Hi Tracy! Welcome to our blog! Please tell us a little about yourself.Thanks so much for having me J

I like lipsticks, going to movies, hanging on the beach, and dancing. I read just about anything I can get my hands on, though my newest obsession is dystopian YA novels. Tempest Rising takes place on the same beaches I used to wander and surf when I was her age.

Tell us us about your favorite mermaid tale (movie, book or fairy tale).I love mermaids. Love, love, love mermaids. When I was very young (about three or so) my father brought home a VHS tape of Hans Christian Andersen’s version of The Little Mermaid (long before Disney made a version). Though it was really dark and ended with the little mermaid becoming sea foam instead of living HEA with her prince, I fell in love with the story the first time I saw it. From then on, I was all about mermaids. I watched the movie every day (and I mean every day) for three years. My mom swears to this day that she can recite the dialogue word for word. While I eventually outgrew my obsession with mermaids, when I sat down to write my first YA and was still undecided about what paranormal creature I wanted to tackle, my agent asked, “How do you feel about mermaids?” Instantly, I was right back where I started all those years ago and knew I wasn’t going to be happy writing about anything else.

Out of all the characters in Tempest Rising, who was the hardest character to write? Why?Honestly, Tempest’s mother. I expected to really dislike her (as much as Tempest does) but as I was writing the story, her motivations became a lot more clear to me and I really had to adjust how I felt about her. At the same time, since it is a first person narrator, I had to show this while keeping up Tempest’s well-deserved anger at her.

Are the guys in Tempest's life--Mark, Kai, her dad, her brothers--based on real-life person?Nope, not really. There’s a little bit of my dad in Tempest’s father, some of my husband in both Mark and Kai, but nope, they’re largely products of my (over-eager) imagination ;)

Do you need complete silence while writing or are you the type of writer who makes playlists or has a theme song for different scenes in your book? If so, please share with us a few of the songs that would be in the Tempest Rising soundtrack?I’m actually a pretty low-maintenance writer (though I can hear my husband laughing at the idea of me being low-maintenance anything). If possible, I prefer a bottle of Perrier and my iPod, but that’s about it. I can write anywhere, including through WWIII, which is a good thing as I have three boys who hang out in a game room that borders my office.

I did have a playlist for Tempest, songs that I found myself listening to again and again. A few of those are:

Thank you so much to Tracy for stopping by our blog and answering our questions. For more info about Tempest Rising click on the cover above to take you to Goodreads. You can also go to Tracy's by clicking on her photo above. You can also read her blog and stop by her Facebook page.

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Kate and Bloomsbury Teen I have an ARC (advance reader's copy) of Tempest Rising to giveaway to one lucky reader. Just read the giveaway details and fill out the form below to enter.

IMPORTANT: See "Special Giveaway Policy" for complete rules and disclaimers. By entering the giveaway, you agree to the terms stated on that page. Comments are very much appreciated, thank you for entering and good luck!